Govt Spent Rs 25bn Repairing Old State Vehicles — Is Buying New Really Cheaper?

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told the National Trade Union Conference this month that the government has spent close to Rs 25 billion just maintaining and repairing its ageing fleet of state vehicles, and that replacing them outright would save money in the long run. Officials are now drawing up a plan to modernise the public sector fleet. One side: a government asking ordinary people to tighten their belts under IMF terms has no business buying new cars for ministries while schools and hospitals go without basics — fix what you have, or just cut the fleet size. The other side: a 15-20 year old vehicle with no spare parts available can easily burn more in repeated repairs than a new one costs in loan instalments, and a smaller, newer fleet with proper maintenance contracts could cost less over its lifetime. Where should the line be — repair, replace, or just reduce the number of vehicles a ministry actually needs? If you've worked near a government garage or driven a state vehicle, how bad is the real waste on the ground? රජයේ පරණ වාහන අලුත් කරනවාට වඩා අලුතින් ගන්නවා ලාබදායිද? ඔබේ අදහස මොකක්ද?